The company yesterday announced the change from Chevalier iTech (Thailand), its distributor for 15 years, to a new exclusive distributor: FMA Group Co Ltd.

"We have never been so aggressive before," said Jimmy Lim, regional manager for international operations in the company's Electronic Imaging Division. "And our aggressiveness in the market depends on our distributor, who has to be committed and focused on our products. Chevalier had not been aggressive enough. During the past, Chevalier did not create enough awareness of the Toshiba brand for office automation and multifunction products. The market share of Toshiba is quite small. Chevalier  also decided to end the distributorship with Toshiba."

Lim said that with the new distributor, the firm had set a target of boosting the market share of the Toshiba e-Studio in the Thai market, from 8 per cent to 10-12 per by year-end, reaching 15 per cent next year.

"We have already invested Bt14 million over the past three months to build brand awareness of the Toshiba e-Studio through many advertisements. And we've also enjoyed growth of more than 40 per cent in the first five months of this year compared with the same period last year," said Lim, adding that the distributorship contract with the FMA Group would be reviewed annually.

Lim said the firm would spend more than Bt30 million on a brand-awareness campaign in Thailand this year, launching 11 new models.

He said Toshiba Singapore would become the regional sales and marketing office for Toshiba e-Studio for Southeast Asia, the Middle East, South Asia and South Africa. It has set up a representative office in Bangkok. "Thailand is a potential market for us, so we need to convert Thai consumers from analogue to digital machines and from competitors to us," said Lim.

FMA marketing director Prasan Pitulkijja said his company expected to sell 2,200-2,500 Toshiba e-Studio multifunction machines this year.

Kwanchai Rungfapaisarn

The Nation